Tesla mixes warnings and bravado about hands-free driving

TESLA OFFICIALLY touts its partial selfdriving Autopilot feature as a back-up to human drivers, but some of the car maker’s comments—and some high profile videos—have led many drivers to think of it as a replacement.

The questions of whether drivers are being lulled into a false sense of security by such technology, and who is legally to blame for an accident, have come into focus after it was made public on Thursday that a driver using Autopilot died when he drove under a truck in May.

An investigation of the crash has not yet established if the driver was distracted, or if his hands were on the wheel.

Tesla Motors chief executive Elon Musk told reporters last year that its partial self-driving technology was “hands on.” When Autopilot is activated, the driver hears a chime and sees an indication on the dashboard telling them to “please keep your hands on the wheel. Be prepared to take over at any time.”

Last October, Musk told reporters: “We’re being especially cautious at this stage, so we’ re advising drivers to keep their hands on the wheel just in case.”

But by April, he told a conference that Autopilot was “almost twice as good as a person,” even in its first version.

It is the second message that appears to have registered with drivers. Spurred by confidence in the system’s ability to self-steer and stay in its lane on highways, Tesla drivers have posted YouTube videos of themselves driving hands-free—even from the back seat.

One of them was Musk’s ex-wife, actress Talulah Riley, who in April was filmed by a friend covering her eyes and dancing behind the wheel of her Tesla Model X, while the car’s Autopilot feature drove the pair on a crowded highway. The video was posted on YouTube and has been viewed nearly 30,000 times.

Riley was not available for comment.

Musk himself has retweeted news reports showing drivers using Au- topilot with no hands on the wheel.

The potential for discrepancy in messages is a concern in the auto industry and beyond.

Brad Stertz, a spokesman for Germany’s Audi, told Reuters in November that car makers must be “absolutely clear” what level their technology was capable of handling, after the launch of Autopilot.